Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram today said that the new tax regime introduced by the Narendra Modi government is Indian indirect tax and not really the goods and services tax (GST).

The tax regime cannot be GST because it has at least seven rates, according to him.(ANI)

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram today said that the new tax regime introduced by the Narendra Modi government is Indian indirect tax and not really the goods and services tax (GST). At a gathering, Chidambaram said, ”What has been introduced is not GST. You can call it Indian Indirect Tax. It’s not GST.” On previous occasions too the former finance minister had voiced his disagreement with GST in the form introduced by the Modi government, saying it was “very, very imperfect”. PTI quoted Chidambaram as saying, “this is a very, very imperfect GST. This is not the GST which we (the UPA) had envisaged.” The tax regime cannot be GST because it has at least seven rates, according to him.

Chidambaram had said that the matter will be raised in the Parliament and Congress will continue to keep an eye on the rollout and “articulate the fears and grievances” of businesses and consumers according to PTI reports. He further said that the government should have tried to make it perfect since its “very imperfect”. Chidambaram did not stop there after criticising the government over GST, taking a dig at the Modi government over demonetisation he said, ” it has solved all our problems, as it abolished black money, removed fake currency, and has put an end to corruption. Demonetisation is God’s gift to India”. On GST’s effect on GDP, he said a Niti Aayog member had said there was no direct correlation between the two.